Paper towel



k EK. PAPER TOWEL.

APPLICATION FILED MAY3I, 1919.

Patented July 20, 1920.

UNITED STATES ABVID EK, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.

PAPER TOWEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20,1920.

Application filed May 31, 1919. Serial No. 300,817.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARVID EK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper Towels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the production of a paper towel which shall have many of the desirable qualities of a woven linen towel.

Hitherto, it has been common to make paper towels of an absorbent quality of paper which, as soon as it became wet, lost its strength and was readily reduced to a pulpy mass in the operation of rubbing the hands or face with it.

These paper towels are not capable of use like an ordinary towel, but, in order to remove the water from the skin, they must be pressed lightly upon the surface of the hands or face without rubbing.

As soon as any rubbing operation takes place, the paper tends to roll up into rolls of soft pulpy material.

The operation of drying the hands and face is thus quite different from that used with the ordinary woven towel and for this reason the paper towel as hitherto constructed has not been altogether satisfactorly.

he object of my invention is to construct a paper towel of paper whichghas good absorbent qualities and also is exceedingly tough and of high tensile strength so that even after wetting it has considerable toughness. The interstices of the paper are charged with a small quantity of saponified matter, which, when moistened, makes the paper slightly emollient and unctuous and enables it to be rubbed over the surface of the skin without forming rolls of moist pulp and it also leaves the surface of the skin in a smooth and velvety condition.

In carrying out the object of my invention, I form a paper towel of paper pulp in the interstices of which are embodied small quantities of saponaceous material.

hand while retaining the quality of absorbing moisture from the Sklll.

The towels made from this paper have,-

when moistened, a combination of toughness and smoothness which render them very similar in their action to woven fiber.

The towels are usually formed in continuous rolls perforated transversely at intervals so that the separate towels may be easily detached from the roll.

They may, however, be made up as separate towels and done up in suitable packages.

The saponaceous' material may be introduced into the body of the paper otherwise than here shown as, for instance, by saturat ing the paper with soapy water and evaporating the water.

In the accompanying drawing I have shown a roll 3 of paper which may be of sulfate pulp suitable for towels. The paper web 3 is separated by lines of perforation 2 into towels 1 of suitable length.

I claim:

- A paper towel formed of wood fiber digested with sulfate of sodaleaving a small quantity of saponified resin in the interstices of the paper.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ARVID EK. 

